The Adventures of Bracken and Min Ti
by Detective's Heart
Summary: Roland very quickly finds out that under no circumstances should you ever expect Bracken to listen to new rules. It doesn't stop him trying, but as Bracken becomes a real handful whilst recovering from an injury, Min Ti may be his only choice to stop her from being so darn reckless all the time. Bracken Centric! Rate T to be safe! NI NO KUNI 2 / NI NO KUNI II REVENANT KINGDOM
1. The Accident

Evan always did this.

It was actually a little funny if you thought about it.

Every single time the weather took a turn for the worse, everyone in his kingdom was urged to stay inside to avoid getting sick or hurt or… whatever… Of course this meant measures were taken so people wouldn't _have_ to go outside during these times. It didn't always work but most of the time, the solution was to have an extra room somewhere so everyone could still get to work, but in a safer environment.

It was also a nice way of filling out the castle.

Though, for Bracken, it was a little bit more awkward since she alternated between where she worked on a pretty much daily basis. When the conversation arose about where Bracken's safe working environment would be, she had insisted that she should just use her room in the castle and have a separate project for when the bad weather came.

Considering pretty much everyone else's safe rooms were pretty much their own room anyway, it made sense to a degree.

So now, during an admittedly, pretty nasty looking storm, Bracken had been holed up in her room to tweak and finish her latest invention…

Rocket boots.

Designed especially for those on the field to provide a number of things. The first, being a jump boost that could range depending on your preference. The second, was a short hover ability that could allow you to combo short aerial attacks. The third…

 _Rocket boots._

If she couldn't put jets in her leg, she'd put rockets in her boots!

"And… done!" She announced to herself as she sat back to admire her handiwork. Whipping her forehead, she took a drink of water from the cup on her desk.

The boots were finished. All that was left was to test them and tweak them since they had to be perfect or the jump boost would be too strong and the hover would just send you flying.

 _'_ _Knock, knock!'_

"Who is it?" Bracken called as she gave the boots another once over.

"Hey! I just wanted to let you know dinners ready!" Recognising Evan's voice through the door, she stretched as she replied.

"Thanks! I'll be right there!" Standing, she made to join the group downstairs. If there's one thing she _never_ missed about Broadleaf, it was the food. Floyd was by far, the greatest cook she'd ever met.

"Oh, come on Leander! Tell us!" She spied Tani pestering Leander as she entered the grand dining hall. Leander shook his head with a sigh as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"As far as I am aware, nothing like that has been arranged as of yet." He glanced at Bracken as she took her seat next to him.

"Hey, Leander, Tani. What's going on?" She smiled at them as she tilted her head curiously.

"Leander won't tell us when his wedding's going to be!" The young sky pirate pouted with puffed cheeks. The engineer chuckled with a teasing glint in her eyes as he gave her a look that asked for some support here.

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport, Leander… We all wanna know." Evan tried to hide his laugh from across the table as Batu grinned with a bellowing laugh.

"As of yet, there's nothing to know. We are still discussing the details after all." The future king of Hydropolis explained for what could easily be the umpteenth time. "How is your latest project progressing, Bracken?" He changed the subject seemingly inconspicuously.

"Nice subject change." She smirked at him as Tani snorted on his other side. "But I actually just finished the prototype for it. I just gotta test it and see what needs to be adjusted before it'll be ready for production." She smiled enthusiastically, even as Evan gave her a worried, yet curious look.

"Well, what is it?" He tilted his head slightly. Why would he be worried though? It'll be such a huge asset if she can get it functioning.

"Rocket boots." Bracken paused for dramatic effect. "When I'm finished with its development, they'll be able to help us in battle a great deal. They'll be able to give jump boosts so we can reach high flying monsters when we can't use guns, they'll be able to help us link our attacks when we're not on the ground, plus…" She paused again. " _Rocket boots_ already makes us sound amazing."

A long pause followed her words as no one really seemed to know how to top that.

"And… These prototypes are definitely safe, yes?" Leander tweaked his glasses.

"Well I haven't tested them yet but theoretically? They should be safe." She answered with a shrug as Floyd appeared with a little trolley full of food. Once everyone's meals had been handed out and Floyd was given their opinions on his once again, amazing dishes, Tani spoke up.

"So, when are you going to test them?" The redhead asked curiously. "Maybe Evan could let you test them in here whilst the weather's bad?" Tani gave Evan a pointed look that caused the young kings eyes to grow wide.

"In here?! W-why?!" He seemed to panic slightly causing Bracken to chuckle slightly at him.

"This place has high ceilings so it would actually be a good place for a test run." The engineer clarified with a smile.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Roland spoke up with a slightly concerned expression.

"Why not? I for one, wanna see this." The young sky pirate took an all too meaningful bite of her meal.

"Flip mun! This place isn't exactly fireproof!" Lofty retorted in some form of shock. Batu just laughed as obnoxiously loud as always.

"Then we'll just 'ave to stay 'er and make sure she don't set the place ablaze!" At his enthusiasm, Leander shook his head.

"I would advise against this, your majesty. This isn't a very suitable area for experiments of any kind." The future king calmly urged the current king.

"Hmmm…" Evan seemed to mull over this for a little while. "I suppose it would help your work… and since this storm may not let out for a while, I wouldn't want to hinder you from progress…" He drawled. One glance at Roland said that he thoroughly believed this wasn't going to end well. But why wouldn't it? Bracken was an engineer who knew what she was doing!

"So…?" Tani prompted as the young king paused for a while.

"Maybe… just this once. But if anything goes wrong at any point, you stop." Evan nodded to himself, seemingly happy with his decision. Bracken nodded with him in understanding.

"Of course. And if you're _really_ worried about a fire then I promise not to start unless Leander is nearby with his water spells." At this Evan nodded his approval and Roland probably only stayed quiet out of either respect or exasperation, she really couldn't tell which.

The rest of the dinner went by with the usual small talk and amazing food, that Bracken always showered praise onto, regardless of what it was since she always found Broadleaf food to not be all that great. By the end of it, the engineer was actually fidgeting with anticipation for her new invention.

After a quick trip to her room to grab the boots and a quick change of footwear, the group cautiously stood on the opposite end of the room to her as she prepared her experiment. With a glance, you could tell Leander was on edge already, looking ready to burst into flames if she didn't beat him to it.

With papers on the table and the prototype head set on, she took a few more steps away from the others.

"Ready?" She questioned before being reassured with a simple 'good luck!' from them. Taking a deep breath, Bracken started up the machine with a button on the side of her head set.

A quiet whirring noise broke the silence as a blue line began to faintly glow on the backs of her heels. The wireless head set works. The power up procedures work.

"Jump boost first." She announced as she gave the technology a moment to ensure it wouldn't just cut out on her.

She would jump in three…

Two…

One…

Now!

With her mental prompt, she leapt straight into the air, the thrusters acting with her to increase her momentum as it carried her much higher than her usual jump could take her. The thrusters deactivated a little late for her taste but the extra airtime allowed her to – unintentionally – flip backwards, to land heavily on the table. It shook violently under the sudden force but held strong all the same.

"Hmm… Boost lasts a little too long for me, but otherwise, I'd call that a success." Bracken smiled as she stepped off the table. A round of applause erupted from Tani and Evan over in the opposite corner of the room.

"It works!" Evan cheered in his congratulatory voice. Leander and Roland seemed to have calmed a little bit and Batu just continued to watch in anticipation.

"Next up, hover mode." This was the difficult part. If the strength of the thrusters didn't even out the buoyancy with the pull of gravity, it wouldn't work. Getting the exact numbers and calculations was beyond a struggle but she wouldn't mind re-calculating to fix any instability issues.

Time to begin in three…

Two…

One…

Bracken once again, jumped into the air, the thrusters activated as soon as gravity began to pull her back down to the ground. It was gonna work..!

Her centre of gravity suddenly went haywire as the thrusters' power suddenly sparked. Bracken was instantaneously launched across the room, straight into the wall before sliding up it into the ceiling and back down towards the floor.

"Ah!" She yelped in shock as she panicked a little as her momentum kicked up.

"I gotcha!" The rocket boots sent her flying into Batu, knocking him completely off balance and altering her course of direction to who knows where. Despite Batu's efforts, Bracken began to spin in a corkscrew dive towards where ever the heck she was going.

The world was on its head and she scrambled to find the deactivation button on her head piece. Her hands instinctively clung on to her head set in a very vain attempt at finding some semblance of balance.

A loud smashing sound broke through the muffled noises of her friends and above her muddled thoughts of, ' _What the heck is happening?!_ '

All too late, the boots deactivated as her body collided against a wall, a thunderous crack rattling through her mind as her head slammed back against the stone from the sheer force of the impact.

She could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps running towards her but before she could make out much more, her head burned and her mind fell into a black out…


	2. What Happened?

_"_ _And you're sure she'll be okay?"_

Who said that?

 _"_ _She should recover soon enough. It'll just be a matter of time."_

Why did her head hurt so much?

 _"_ _That's good."_

What's good?

 _"_ _Hey… It's not your fault."_

The sound of restrained emotion reached her senses.

 _"_ _I should have listened to you… If I had listened she wouldn't have–"_

Huh?

 _"_ _If you had listened to me, then she would have just done the same thing somewhere else. You know she would."_

Was that… Roland? Were they talking about her?

 _"_ _Yeah but… Maybe it wouldn't have been as bad…"_

Evan? Yeah, it probably wasn't his fault.

 _"_ _So… Why isn't she awake yet?"_

Hmm… Tani? She _was_ awake!

 _"_ _She'll wake up when she's ready or until her head heals enough to let her."_

… _Wasn't_ she awake?

 _"_ _Cheer up, lad! She'll be fine!"_

 _That_ must be Batu. Who are they talking about? She wanted to know!

 _"_ _Hmm? It looks like she's listening."_

Of course she was listening. They were right beside her. Now if her eye lids didn't feel like the whole of Broadleaf had been built on top of them, she would see what was going on.

 _"_ _Is she? Bracken? Say something!"_

How do you speak again? Hmm…

A small noise of discomfort managed to squeeze its way passed her otherwise sealed lips, and suddenly everything came crashing down on her. Pain exploded in her side, her head erupted into flames and her fingers ached, assumedly from whatever they were talking about.

"Bracken?" Tani tried but this time Bracken couldn't manage a response before sliding back into darkness.

* * *

"We should let her rest. If we wake her up now, it may be too early for her." Leander tweaked his glasses as he spoke. Evan's head snapped in his direction from where he had been staring, wide-eyed and hopeful at the engineer.

"But we can't! What if–" The young king was cut off by Roland who placed a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Leander's right, Evan. Thetis has said she'll be okay with some time. She'll come around." The over-worldly friend reassured calmly as Leander glanced at the woman in question.

He had a feeling something bad would happen. With Bracken, you can almost guarantee the prototype would either explode or cause a little chaos. That was a given.

It could easily have been worse.

A few broken ribs and a minor concussion were just that. Minor.

They'd beaten dragons and walking pigs with swords that had done much more damage than that so it was without a doubt that Bracken would recover soon enough. Even so, they'd all have to pitch in to support her recovery in some way, shape or form.

Perhaps he could ask Queen Nerea about it? Maybe she knew of something that would help?

He shook his head. Since when did he have to look for an excuse to see her? It was almost laughable.

Focusing his gaze back on Bracken, he frowned at the memory of mere hours prior.

The rocket boots had been a success until the hover function. She'd seem to completely lose her balance after barely a moment, her attempts to right herself being what sent her crashing around like a game of pinball in the first place. Batu, of course, had tried to catch her but it would seem as though the boots were a tad too out of control for him as well. His efforts only sent her on a collision course with the large window instead of the wall.

Needless to say, the marks of such a disaster were obvious.

Small gashes marred her pale skin from where the glass had torn through both her flesh and her clothing. The sight had been enough to scare the wits out of them when they caught up to the crash site, never mind the bleeding at the back of her head.

It was a good thing there was a wall built for castle defence where she ended up or she may have ended up demolishing the wall of someone's home.

He shook his head in dismay at the image of one of his dear friends being knocked completely unconscious by an invention of her own creation. A small bubble of anger welled up at the idea that she was probably going to do this again in the name of progress.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Tani as she spoke his thoughts for him.

"She better not try this again. If she does, it won't be the wall that breaks her head set." Her grave tone almost sounded ridiculous as he took in the irony of it.

Bracken had invented the headset so that it would work with the boots as a means of controlling them. However, she couldn't deactivate them when she needed to, using said headset, and it had been crushed when she'd finally smashed into the wall outside, as if it already knew that it was a failure.

The moments after they'd reached her, Evan had dropped to his knees to try and wake her up, Tani had joined him soon after. Leander himself had kneeled down next to her, but it had taken Roland taking charge for much more to really process. The pouring rain and lashing winds had almost muffled his quick commands but he managed to kick everyone back into gear.

Batu had been instructed to carry Bracken to her room as he was the strongest, rivalled only by Bracken herself. Evan had been sent to find Thetis and Da Xing whilst Tani was to make sense of Bracken's room layout in order to find something suitable for the engineer to wear once the young sky pirate helped dry her off. Roland himself had ran off to find Ketch to help board the window back up and Leander had been tasked with tending her wounds the best he could with his experience at the Hubble-Bubblery.

That's how they'd ended up here. All of them, crowded around Bracken's bedside with the two doctors and an air of worry.

"Hopefully, this will put her off rocket boots for a while…" Roland shook his head slightly at the engineer's antics. It wasn't like she hadn't pulled crazy inventions out of nowhere that – admittedly _did_ work in the end – usually ended up going haywire.

"Come now, everyone. We must leave her in peace if she is to recover properly." Leander spoke after a glance at Thetis and Da Xing.

"Um… alright. But… Shouldn't we have someone watching her? In c-case something happens?" Evan suggested, his concern radiating from him in waves.

"She'll probably not wake up tonight, your majesty. We'll come back first thing in the morning to check on her." Thetis seemed to get through to him as he hesitantly nodded.

"Thank you." The two doctor's nodded at his gratefulness before taking their leave. It was a little while later before Evan finally led them away too.

It was best to let her rest for now.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Yes. I am still alive. This fic just came to me and I had to write it despite not haven posted / written anything properly in ages.  
Welp.  
Enjoy!**

 **PS.**

 **I'll move this over to the Ni No Kuni 2 category when it becomes available and will add the right characters when FF decides to add them.**


	3. Floyd The Humble Chef

The sound of faint bird song was the first thing to reach her senses. The small chill in her bones being the second.

For a while, her only thoughts were of the sweet melody beyond her closed eyes. Broadleaf never had this kind of perk.

Hmm…

Broadleaf was an interesting place…

Shame it lacked anything natural that wasn't light and air.

She didn't react to the feeling of the cold. She was just too comfortable…

Another sound reached her mind.

People's voices that must have been some distance away that she could barely make out.

Wait…

People?

If she could hear the people from here… Assuming she was in her room of course… Then what time was it?

Normally she could never hear people until much later in the day.

Hmm…

Oh well. Still too comfy.

 _"_ _Higgle!"_

The birdsong vanished with a flurry of feathers as the sound of a Higgledy nearby.

And thus, her peace shattered.

Bracken mumbled a few choice words towards the higgledy as she shifted onto her side, pulling the blanket closer in the process.

All too quickly, her senses became aware of the aches in her finger joints. Her brows furrowed as she tried to figure out why but her thoughts were cut short by the now splitting pain in her head.

Bracken grumbled some more as she pulled the blanket over her head to try and block out the little bit of sunlight that shone through the curtains. It didn't help much.

Doesn't look like she was getting anymore sleep today…

Deciding to bite the bullet, she stretched a little, still hiding under the covers, before slowly blinking her eyes open. Turns out the blankets in Evermore are pretty good at blocking out sunlight.

Cautious of her pounding head, she hesitantly pulled the covers away from her face. Turns out the curtains in Evermore are also pretty good at blocking out sunlight.

Brilliant.

With half lidded eyes, she turned onto her back to stare at the ceiling for a moment. Must have been either a long night, or the sky pirates decided to spike someone other than Roland's drink. The engineer smirked at the memory.

Roland hadn't even noticed when Batu had mixed their drinks together the first time. Leander's face as Roland fell for it was priceless! She still had the whole event on a memolith somewhere, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't posted a few pictures on Leafbook.

And the best part? Batu got Leander too!

A few karaoke sessions from two screeching drunkards, followed by a dance of and a 'who can drink the fastest' game later, and Leander had lost seven bets, Roland had stolen Evan's crown and Queen Nerea was thoroughly confused.

Since the Hydropolis queen now had a Leafbook, Bracken had taken it upon herself to suggest a few _very_ questionable messages to be sent her way if Leander lost a bet.

 _That_ had been a night to remember.

Another spark of pain rattled through her noggin, forcing her smile into a cringe.

Is this what they'd felt like when they'd woken up the next morning?

Turning her head to the side, she spied her Leafbook on her bedside table. If anything like that had happened last night, it _had_ to be on there.

She yawned tiredly as she reached for it before freezing completely.

Bracken's eyes zeroed in her bare arm, once unmarked and clear skinned, now red and raw. Small cuts dappled her skin, tracing an unpredictable path to her knuckles that were bandaged tightly. Her eyes widened in alarm as she twisted her arm around to take in the extent of the damage. Her elbow was bandaged up too, and upon closer inspection, the white wrappings seemed to have been stained a little from her frantic movements.

Checking her other hand, she found a similar sight. Light gashes and a little bruising with bandaged knuckles and a wrapped up elbow. She gulped a little unsurely, before she moved to rub her head in an attempt to soothe the fire behind it.

The moment her fingers touched her forehead, she'd felt it. Her head was wrapped up too. What the actual heck happened?!

Shakily, she turned her attention back to the Leafbook. Taking it from her bedside, she opened it, hoping beyond hope that it held some answers.

A scroll through the events of the world and she found it.

An image of Batu carrying someone with pink hair – who could only be her – into the castle with what looked like Tani running beside him. Leander seemed to be following and Evan and Roland seemed to be hurriedly sprinting off towards the Hubble-Bubblery. It was hard to make out what had happened just from the picture as the storm from last night seemed to still be in full affect and the photo looked as though someone had taken it from quite far away.

The caption read _'What happened?'_ and underneath, Fai Do had written _, 'I'm not sure what just happened but I was working on the plans for a new type of armour when a crash sounded outside. When I went to see, it looked like it had something to do with Bracken! I hope she's okay…'_

The comments that followed seemed full of concern from both Evermore and Broadleaf. A comment down at the bottom from Tani reassured that Bracken would be okay and that the doctors just said she needed some time. A quick check of her messages brought a frown to her face. Zip, Trey and some of her closer Broadleaf friends had been asking if she was okay and saying _'Evan'_ Or _'Zip'_ depending on who it was, _'told us everything'_. Just what exactly happened?

Choosing not to answer them just yet, she placed the Leafbook beside her and began to push herself into a sitting position. Pain immediately exploded in her side, causing her to quickly clutch at it with one hand.

"Ah! What the…?" She grunted with effort as she leaned herself against the headboard of the bed and stared down at her side. What was wrong with her?!

Panic quickly starting to sink in from not having enough answers to her questions, she quickly pulled the covers away from her to check the rest of her limbs were still there.

A sigh of relief as she realized that she still had her last leg… The one Zip built looked a little battered here and there but Fai Do always made sure to have extra materials for her just in case it got damaged.

He was a good kid. So was Nu Bi.

Well, regardless of her discomfort, she had to get this repaired before it started wearing away too badly.

Taking a deep breath, she carefully began to shift towards the edge of the bed. She slowly slid her feet onto the floor, still leaning heavily on the headboard as she did so. Bracken reached out for the walking stick she used sometimes when her prosthetic leg hurt to walk on. Luckily, that wasn't too often but the stick helped none the less.

Tentatively, she shifted her weight from the head board, to the walking stick, feeling whatever was wrong with her side, grow more irritated. Another deep breath to brace herself for what may be a lot of pain, she cautiously pulled herself to her feet.

As expected, the pain intensified to the point where breathing was beginning to become a chore. Her hand gripped her side as her knuckles turned white in a burning inferno with the sheer force she was using to keep herself up.

 _'_ _Knock! Knock!'_

Bracken glanced up at a knock on the door before it shyly creaked open. The black, furry face of Floyd poked out from behind the door in an awkward manor before his eyes widened like dinner plates at the sight of her.

"B-Bracken!" He panicked as he opened the door fully and quickly raced over to her. He placed the trey of stuff he'd been holding onto her bedside before swiftly taking her hand from her side and wrapping it around his shoulders in an attempt to support her. The grimalkin then guided her back into a seated position on the edge of her bed, before leaning her back against the headboard.

"A-are you okay?!" Bracken smiled a reassuring smile, despite still being slightly breathless from the pain in her chest. His worry clear, she took a few more breaths before speaking.

"I'm okay… Thanks for the help." With that, he seemed to calm down a little. The engineer then shuffled so that she was sitting with her legs stretched out beneath the blankets.

"A-are you sure? I-I mean… I didn't expect you to be awake so…" He struggled a little with his words, much to Bracken's amusement.

"Relax… I'm fine. But er… What exactly happened?" She tilted her head in curiosity. "And why is my head on fire?" She added as an afterthought.

"O-oh um. Well I was just here to check on you and to bring these up." He indicated to the little pill bottle on the trey he'd brought in. "Leander finished up the development just before the accident. They're fast acting pain killers. He was gonna bring them up himself but he had to let Evan know he was prescribing them to you." He explained, not really giving her much insight.

"Pain killers, huh? How many am I supposed to take?" Questions could wait, right now, her head hurt too much.

"Um… just the one. There may be side effects though. They are still pretty new." He clarified as he offered her the bottle. "You want one now?"

"Thanks." She smiled as she took the bottle from him before taking one from it.

"Oh, here." Floyd quickly swapped the pill bottle for a glass of… chocolate milk? "Trey told me it was your favourite so I thought you would prefer this to water." He smiled sheepishly as she swallowed the pill with the chosen drink. Medicine was nowhere near as bad with chocolate milk.

"Thanks. Let's hope the side effects aren't too bad." Bracken smiled as she took a sip of her sugary drink. She _did_ love chocolate milk after all. "So, what exactly happened?"

"Well…" The chef paused to process her question. "You wanted to test out your new invention in the dining hall since it was still storming outside. I assume his majesty allowed it as when I next came into the room, you were flying all over the place!" Bracken frowned at the slightly haunted look in his eyes. This didn't sound fun…

"Batu tried to help and everyone was trying to stop you but no one could get it under control and… well, you ended up going through the window and hitting the wall outside pretty badly." He seemed to shiver at the thought of it. "Batu brought you back here and Tani changed your clothes for you whilst we were outside. Leander did his best for you until Thetis and Da Xing got here. They said you'd broken some ribs and got a minor concussion but you'd be fine in the end." His eyes then found another object on the trey he brought in.

"Here." He said as he handed her a large ice pack from it. "It's supposed to help with your ribs." Bracken nodded before lifting her shirt slightly to glance at the wound. The skin hadn't broken but the area around where the pain originated from had turned an angry red and blue from some bruising and some awful looking swelling. Gingerly, she placed the pack against the worst of it, flinching as it stung more than it probably should.

"So… What happened to my boots?" Now for a very important question.

"Huh? Your boots?" He paused for a moment to consider that. "Oh, right! Roland has them under lock-down. Just to make sure you don't put yourself in that kind of danger again." Now Bracken stared at him.

"What?" She stated quite simply. Floyd nervously found the floor very interesting.

"R-Roland has them…" The grimalkin clarified awkwardly.

"Of course he does." She shook her head as she indulged in her chocolate milk. "Honestly, I wish Batu would spike his drink more often. What a spoil sport." He laughed a little awkwardly.

"Heh… You want some more?" Floyd offered with a gesture to her nearly empty cup. In response, the engineer downed the remainder of her drink before nodding enthusiastically and holding the cup out in front of her. The chef smiled a little before taking a jug from the trey and pouring some into her cup. She smiled in response before drinking some more of the sugary concoction.

"Thanks." She repeated the gratitude for the third time as she looked him in the eye again. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the tired glimmer in his eyes he tried to hide from her. "You get much sleep last night, Floyd? You look tired."

"Uh, oh um…" He fidgeted awkwardly. "W-well after seeing what h-happened last night I-I was kinda w-worried…" She cut him off with a little chuckle.

"Aw. You were worried about me?" She teased with an amused smile.

"Who wouldn't be after that? Especially since you're one of the best people to cook for…" He mumbled that last part but she'd heard it all the same.

"Really? You like cooking for me?" She tilted her head again.

"Well you've only ever eaten Broadleaf's food, and you said yourself that you didn't like it all that much…" Bracken smiled even more at that.

"Fair enough. Broadleaf is good with many things, but food isn't one of them. Speaking of, where'd you get this?" She gestured to her drink.

"Oh, Zip told Trey the recipe who then gave it to me to help you feel better when you woke up." He tilted his head at her amazed expression.

"Trey had the recipe this _whole_ time? And he told _you_ how to make it? No fair!" Bracken looked a little frustrated at that.

"I forgot he told me not to mention that…" Floyd laughed awkwardly again before backing away towards the door. "Well, I'd better go let everyone else know you're awake. Goodbye!" He smiled as he left her alone once more.

Sighing to herself, she pulled blankets closer to her as a chill reached her again.

One thing she _definitely_ missed from Broadleaf is how warm it was there. Life in Evermore tended to be physically cold compared to her home town.

At least the pain had gone down…

Reaching for her Leafbook, Bracken finally decided to answer her concerned friends' messages.

* * *

 **Yes, I wrote this a while ago so have a bunch of chapters today.**


	4. Subsiding Worry

_'_ _Knock! Knock!'_

"Bracken?" The hopeful voice of her country's king called out for her as he quietly opened the door. Bracken had been dozing off as she leaned against the headboard of her bed with her Leafbook on her lap and her cup of chocolate milk in her hand as she'd been reading about what was going on in the world.

"Bracken!" Evan repeated as he noticed her sleepy gaze from where she'd glanced at him. His eyes lit up as he surged towards her, the child in him shining through as he trapped her in a hug. Her expression had turned from curious to surprised as her arms instinctively raised to make room for him, consequently saving her drink from ruining her Leafbook.

"You're okay!" He cheered as his grip tightened around her waist. The small pain it caused wasn't anything she couldn't handle though. Passing her cup from one hand to the other, she set it down on her bedside table before returning the king's embrace.

"Glad to see you too." Bracken smiled as Roland entered after him. She smiled a greeting to him whilst he gave her a _very_ mixed expression. On one hand, he seemed relieved that she was indeed okay. On the _other_ hand, however…

He did _not_ look impressed.

"Looks like I'll be getting a good talking to…" She grumbled in amusement so only Evan could hear. He laughed before pulling away with a huge grin.

"Good luck." He whispered in return. _Nobody_ liked a Roland lecture. Everyone had had one at some point. Even Leander. They went on for over an hour and no one ever paid full attention to him the entire way through.

"Save me!" She gasped as Roland came closer. Evan just laughed some more before turning to face the man.

"I'm glad to see you're okay, Bracken." He started, as if trying to make her feel as though everything was gonna be just _fine._

"We were all worried about you, you know." Wait for it….

"Maybe, next time you could–" She tuned out after the fourth time he said 'reckless'. Glancing at Evan, she could tell he had too.

This must have been the hundredth time she'd had a Roland lecture…

Huh.

Hands suddenly gripped her shoulders and she snapped her attention back to the man who'd been talking to her. He sighed in exasperation before shaking his head.

"You're just lucky you're concussed." He grumbled, clearly a little irritated. It was over already? She covered her mouth as she yawned and realisation dawned.

She'd nearly dozed off again.

If this got her out of his lecture's she was gonna get concussed more often!

"Bracken?" Glancing away from Roland's concerned gaze, she watched as Leander entered the room with Thetis.

"Hi." She gave a small wave in greeting as Roland moved away. Bracken's eyes widened as he drew closer. "Leander… Are you…" She paused, not quite believing her eyes. "Smiling?" He blushed a tiny bit as his relieved expression hardened into its usual stern self.

"Don't be ridiculous." She laughed as she sat up straight.

"So you weren't worried about me too?" She teased as he stuttered slightly. Doomed if he spoke, and doomed if he didn't. "Those painkillers are great by the way." He breathed a little easier at the change of subject.

"That's good news. How are you feeling?" He asked with a tweak of his glasses. She smirked a little at the look on his face.

"Like you want to hug me but don't want to look like you were that worried." And just like that, his blush was back.

"Nonsense! I-I–" She laughed as she spread her arms wide for him.

"Come here, ya big softie!" He sighed in defeat as he stepped closer before accepting her comforting embrace.

"It's good to have you back, Bracken." He spoke quietly.

"Glad you missed me that much, Leander." She giggled again as they pulled apart.

"You're awake!" A whirlwind of red sped past Leander, knocking him backwards onto his rump as Bracken was once again trapped in a bear hug.

"I am." She laughed as she patted Tani on the back. The young sky pirate pulled back just as Batu's heavy hand landed on her shoulder.

"It's 'bout time yer woke up!" He grinned but his hand had sent shock waves straight to her broken ribs and she yelped in a mix of surprise and pain. A hand moved back to the icepack that was still resting against her skin on instinct. Batu pulled away immediately as she gave him a look of betrayal.

"I'm sorry lass." He instantly blurted, lowering the mood of the room by a few notches.

"It's okay, Batu. Leander's medicine took most of that." She tried to offer a reassuring smile but Batu just backed off a little more, as if unsure if he would hurt her or not.

"Perhaps it is best if we let Thetis check you over again, Bracken. Just to be safe." Leander suggested as he picked himself up off the floor.

"I'd be happy to." Thetis – who had stayed quiet up until now – joined Bracken at her bedside. Leander then herded the group of friends out the door in the most polite way possible before returning to help with the examination.

Why did she get the feeling this was gonna be happening a lot more now?


	5. Leander's Poison Medicine

There was only so many shapes one could make with the natural patterns of a ceiling, Bracken mused.

It had been a few days since the incident and at the very least, her concussion was finally clearing up slightly. Thanks to Leander's medicine, she was feeling better in terms of pain but they'd quickly discovered a very slow acting side effect.

She'd been feeling horrendously sick since the third day of her recovery. Since earlier today when the cause of the illness was discovered, they'd immediately taken her off the new medicine and switched it with a much weaker, yet less stomach churning, version of it.

Thanks to this sickness, Bracken's time just staring at the ceiling above her bed instead of doing anything else had increased tenfold.

On the bright side, her head was much better now. She still had the odd dizzy spell when she _did_ decide it was safe for her to move but the point was, she was getting better. And today, her stomach wasn't in knots.

Progress.

Taking an experimental roll onto her side, she deemed her stomach settled enough to at least stand up. The ceiling and Leafbook were only so interesting after all.

Carefully sitting back up, she reached for her walking stick. She did her best not to take full notice of her room to avoid any more reminders of how long she'd spent here.

 _'_ _Knock! Knock!'_

The sound was followed by the opening of her bedroom door and Leander stepping in to see her.

"You're looking better today." He remarked as he drew nearer to her seated form. Noticing the unfamiliar pill bottle in his hand her eyes widened a small fraction.

"Keep your new pills away from me! I actually want to get better!" Her tone was a mix of teasing and deadly seriousness. He glanced down at the medicine in his hand before placing them back into his pocket.

"My apologies. These are the improved versions of the previous medicine we prescribed you. If you don't want to try them out, that's fine. Your last encounter with these weren't exactly favourable." He explained as he took the desk chair that had been moved to her bedside for any visitors to use.

"Yeah, no kidding." She grumbled a little but smiled her encouragement at him. "But they did do wonders for pain. Pretty good in the short term."

"But of course, you need them for a longer term than just a few days." He tweaked his glasses smartly.

"True. But you'll get there. With the way it's developing, it shouldn't be long now." Bracken continued to smile. "And on the bright side, the side effects are wearing off! Isn't it great?" He sighed as he shook his head.

"Optimism is a good sign of recovery I suppose…" Bracken frowned at that. People _weren't_ optimistic about recovery? "Do you not remember?" She shook her head with a curious glimmer in her eyes now.

"Remember what?" The engineer watched him carefully as he began to speak.

"When your illness was at its peak, you became very distressed. You said you thought you were never going to recover." He shook his head again. "Though I suppose you were rather deep under the influence of a fever. It makes sense to a degree that you would act out of character."

"Huh. Well I guess it _can_ be a sign of recovery." She mumbled thoughtfully. "Even more reason to be optimistic!" She smiled again and she could see, in his eyes was a glimmer of happiness over her improvement over the last few days. "Speaking of, what's the chance I can sneak outside without an Evan lecture?" Leander actually smiled a little at that.

"I'd say pretty high, since he, Roland and Tani are on a visit to Ding Dong Dell today." He answered as she nodded with anticipation. Evan had made it _very_ clear that she was not to leave the castle under any circumstances so that if something _did_ happen, there was guaranteed to be someone nearby. "However, I must advise against it."

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport. I've been cooped up in here for so long, I'm considering breaking apart my Leafbook just so I have _something_ to do." An idea suddenly flashed in her mind as she could practically feel the answer she didn't want to hear on its way to being spoken. "What if, I made a deal with you?" He paused at that.

"A deal?" The confused look on his face made her give him a reassuring smile.

"Relax. It's not a battle to the death of anything." She chuckled before continuing. "How about, you let me leave the castle for some much needed space, and in return…" A pause for dramatic effect. "I will try your new medicine." Leander took a few moments to mull it over.

"I accept your deal on two conditions." He started as she leaned forwards in anticipation. "You promise to be back before King Evan returns and you stay close to the more populated areas of Evermore." Now it was Bracken's turn to pause.

"Can you help me get passed the guards?" She queried with a head tilt.

"Very well." He tweaked his glasses again.

"Then deal." She held her hand out, to which he firmly shook it. Taking the bottle from his pocket, he tipped one pill out before handing it to her. Bracken gulped a little as she stared at it for a long moment.

"This is better… right?" The gravity of her deal suddenly kicked in, full force.

"Of course." Leander nodded encouragingly. Taking the glass of water from her bedside table he offered that to her as well. Bracken nervously took the glass before taking a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing then." She swallowed the medicine down with some difficulty before downing the rest of the water in disgust. "Ugh! How come this one actually tastes bad?!" His head tilted in question.

"It shouldn't have a taste…" The two blinked at each other before she felt it. A sudden weight seemed to latch onto her mind, slowing her thought process down to a snail's pace.

The dizziness hit her next. She could have sworn there was only one Leander here a minute ago…

The urge to vomit very quickly arose and with that, so did she. The engineer raced across the room to her bathroom, crashing into the doorway on her way through, before collapsing on the floor beside the toilet to empty her stomach.

She felt Leander at her side in an instant as he tried to help and make sense of the situation. Once her retching stopped and her breathing had calmed, she slowly pulled herself away from the toilet to lean back on whatever was behind her.

The sudden heartbeat she could hear had her realise just what – or rather _who_ – she was leaning on. Glancing up, her now exhausted eyes found his and she smirked a little.

"Keep this up and your Queen might get jealous…" She coughed a little awkwardly as he sighed.

"You know, Tani thinks you only say those things because you're jealous of her." His tone was a little shaky from the panic he still seemed to be experiencing. Bracken chuckled at that.

"Don't get your hopes up… You're…" She yawned, cutting herself off. "Just easy to tease…" She paused. "Not my type anyway…" And with that last grumble, her eyes began to close and Leander's panic seemed to increase.

"That's a relief. T-then what is–" The rest of his sentence was cut off by her consciousness.

He could ask her later if it was important…

* * *

 **Min Ti will show up eventually I promise.**


	6. LeafBook Freak Out

To say Leander was panicked would be an understatement.

Leander _never_ panicked.

Well, usually…

But no. He wasn't panicked at this moment in time, nope!

Completely freaking out however…

Gazing down at the young woman in his arms his level head got kicked to the curb and was replaced by what felt like a headless chicken. How had this happened?!

Okay, okay…

Breath… Breath…

Calm down…

Glancing back down at her, he gulped as his short lived control slipped away again. She was fine just a moment ago!

What was it that caused this?! What did he put in the medicine that did this?! He blinked as she began to shiver with cold.

Priority, keep her warm.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted her weight around before slipping his arm under her knees. He wasn't physically strong like Batu but luckily for him, all this sickness had left her quite a bit lighter than before. Steadying himself, he carefully lifted her up.

His balance was gone almost immediately. He was sure his luck was about to run out as he managed to steady himself on the wall. He _really_ wasn't cut out for this.

Slowly, he began to hobble towards her bed. Bracken wasn't fat by any means but muscle came with a price.

A _heavy_ price.

Breathless as he reached his destination, Leander cautiously laid her down again before pulling the covers back over her. He dropped back into the desk chair, completely out of breath as he observed her for a few moments.

Okay, she's still cold.

Hurriedly, he leapt to his feet at the realisation and raced out the room. He returned moments later with another blanket. Draping the fabric over her, he noticed no significant difference.

She whined a little in pain as she shifted onto her side, sending Leander's mind spiralling out of control.

What did he do?! What _should_ he do?! How come he'd never been in this situation before?! Was she going to get worse again? Oh no, what if she was in a coma?!

…!

What if he killed her?!

* * *

Leander had never been one to freak out over much. His skin was tougher than that. So when Queen Nerea was sent a barrage of messages from Leander, she'd immediately grown worried.

Taking a seat back on her throne, she checked her Leafbook messages to see just what had happened. A small part of her was expecting him to be drunk again. That night had been rather amusing, after all.

Nothing could have prepared her for the utter word abomination that she found.

 _"_ _My quen!_

 _Wat do I d0?_

 _I think I killedher!"_

The queen blinked at his abysmal attempt at grammar. Narrowing her eyes, she finally registered what exactly he'd just typed. Her fingertips paused over the keys for a long moment, still unable to really comprehend what she was reading.

 _"_ _What?"_

She messaged simply, needing clarification. Leander? A killer? Hardly!

 _"_ _BRACKEN_

 _I think I killered her!"_

She was about to respond with something along the lines of, 'What do you mean?' or 'Don't be silly. She won't be dead.' When his frantic typing reached her screen.

 _"_ _I gave her nw medican and she wassick and now she won't walk up!_

 _What do I do?"_

It took a moment to decipher his words before she responded.

 _"_ _Calm down. I'll be right there."_

This was probably for the best. If Bracken was like he claimed, then he may need much more support than what she could offer through technology. Glancing sharply up from her Leafbook, she instantly had the attention of the nearest guard.

"I want a ship to be prepared as soon as possible. I must head to Evermore immediately." She commanded as the guard saluted and raced away to fulfil his orders.

This was going to be interesting…


	7. Queen Nerea to the Rescue!

It took less than an hour to reach Evermore. The queen had spurred her ship crew into sailing with the utmost haste to reach the shores of the Heartlands.

It was always amusing when she entered another country's borders. People would stare at her in wonder as she passed and headed towards the castle. As she walked she sent a message to Leander to reassure him of her presence.

"Y-your majesty! K-king Evan isn't present today. Is there something we can help you with?" Nerea recognized Lycorias as she greeted her.

"I am here to help Leander with his friend's recovery. Could you perhaps lead me to them?" A small grimalkin appeared at her side as Lycorias hesitated.

"I-if I may, your majesty… I know the castle better than most. I'm sure I can lead you to them if you would so need me to." He bowed with the utmost respect, his hat nearly falling off as he did so.

"That would be wonderful. May I ask your name?" She questioned as he smiled brightly at the honour.

"Floyd. My name is Floyd. I'm a chef here at both the castle and the café over there." He introduced himself as he led the way into the castle. She followed him up some stairs and down a hallway to a room with a small set of cog wheels adorning its door.

"Thank you Floyd. Your help is much appreciated." She nodded her thanks as he grinned excitedly.

"I'm happy to help, your majesty!" She nodded once more in acknowledgement before he disappeared down the hallway. Sighing and mentally preparing herself for the sight she was about to see, she entered the room.

* * *

Leander's eyes riveted to the door as Nerea entered as calmly as ever. Closing the door behind her she seemed to take in his appearance and find amusement in it.

"Your–!" She cut him off with a raised hand and a shake of the head.

"Leander, there's no need for such formalities. Now, what happened?" She spoke with an air of confidence as she tread further into the room. Her eyes then found Bracken, buried under three blankets and his jacket that he'd panicked hard enough to practically throw at her.

"I see she is at least warm." She commented as she approached the girl's bedside. Placing a hand on the engineer's forehead she held back a chuckle. The bed was also covered in pillows from who knows where.

"I-I'm not sure… I gave her some medicine just after the accident and it made her sick, so I tried to make it better and–" Leander rambled a little.

"Leander?" She cut him off.

"Yes?" He blinked blankly at her.

"Breathe." He took a few deep breaths. She turned her attention back to Bracken. Her senses told her she was just resting after having to throw whatever she consumed back up again and that was all there was to it.

"What do you think Nerea?" His voice seemed to have smoothed out a little and a weak calmness had returned to him.

"I think…" Nerea paused as she turned back to him with a grave face. "You need to calm down, and see for yourself." Leander blinked as he turned his gaze to the sleeping figure. After a few moments, Nerea laughed a little and shook her head.

"She's fine, Leander. The girl is asleep." She reassured with a smile. Crisis averted.

"A-and you're sure?" He asked, just to be sure.

"Of course." She chuckled again before stepping closer to him. Slipping her hand into his she smiled at the slightly flustered look on his face. He sighed in relief as he let a small smile reach his face, his hand tightening around hers.

"Shall I show you around Evermore? To repay your kindness in helping me?" Leander suggested with a head tilt. Nerea inched closer to him as she smiled too. They were mere centimetres away from each other now.

"That sounds delightful." His smile broadened as her other hand rested on his shoulder.

"Mm… Get a room you two…"

* * *

Leander paled as he spun his head around to see Bracken, just as she turned onto her side with an irritated grumble.

"W-what?" He stuttered in surprise as Nerea bit her lip.

"Sssome people are t-tryin to…" A yawn interrupted her. "Sleep." She finished sleepily. A tiny snort turned Leander's attention to Nerea. His eyes widened a little as she began to laugh, truly in amusement.

"Is she usually like this?" She giggled as the queen watched the sleeping engineer.

"Yes… Yes I suppose she is." Leander smiled again. "Though usually less agitated." His heart soared at her laughter. A shifting sound interrupted any further conversation and he turned his gaze back to Bracken. She'd rolled back onto her back with a defeated sigh. Her sleepy gaze seemed to take a little while to make sense of what she was seeing as she watched them.

"Bet you don't give your queen bad medicine…" She grumbled as she never seemed to notice Nerea. Leander sighed as he hung his head a little. Just then another knock sounded at the door.

"Bracken?" Evan's voice sounded through the wood as he slowly opened it. Leander jumped at the sound before hoping away from Nerea in another moment of panic. Nerea just chuckled as she watched the young king enter.

"Oh! Queen Nerea! I-is everything okay?" He seemed surprised to see her but Leander supposed that was probably normal.

"Wait… Queen Nerea… Is here?" Bracken's voice suddenly sounded much more awake as she very quickly pushed herself up into a sitting position, not noticing as Leander's coat slid from its previous position. Shaking her head vigorously as if it wasn't functioning properly, she swiftly turned her gaze back towards them. The queen watched her calmly as she seemed to panic slightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't thing you'd–" Nerea cut her off with a raised hand and a shake of the head.

"It's quite alright. Formalities do get _very_ tiring after a while." She reassured the engineer that seemed to be having trouble seeing her. "Now, King Evan, to answer your question, Leander asked me to see if there was anything I could do to help our friend here." The clarification just seemed to worry the young king.

"Leander? Did something happen?" Evan tilted his head questioningly. Nerea took this as her cue to approach Bracken and leave Leander to his fate.

"W-well… nothing too drastic." He trailed slightly, awkwardly.

"What happened Leander?" Evan's concern just seemed to grow.

Meanwhile, Nerea took a seat on the desk chair beside Bracken's bedside. The queen waved her hand in front of the engineer's eyes. The girl's blue eyes narrowed a fraction as she shifted back a bit.

"What's that?" She shook her head to try and clear her sight but nothing seemed to work.

"Don't worry. It's just me. How are your eyes?" The queen queried in an attempt at a soothing tone.

"Not great… Do you know what's wrong with them?" Bracken seemed unsure as she tried fruitlessly rubbing at them. Nerea took a deep breath, as she summoned a spell into her hand. It was a simple problem to fix. Whoever thought they'd put the correct ingredients into that medicine was sorely mistaken but it wasn't too drastic.

"Stay still for me…" She calmly commanded as she placed her hand over the blue eyes of the minister. Releasing the magic into the girl, the spell quickly took effect. Nerea couldn't physically fix everything but this simple slip up at the Hubble-Bubblery was something Leander could have solved if he'd just realised his mistake sooner.

"So… let me get this straight… You tried to improve on the medicine that made Bracken sick the first time, and ended up temporarily making things worse with the new medicine?" Leander nodded as Evan drawled a little on his words. A chuckle from the bed drew their attention to the pair giggling away at something.

"Aw… Leander… You freaked out and called your queen over here?" Bracken teased with a smile, her once misty eyes now seeming much clearer.

"Leander? You missed the part when you sent me a message thinking you'd killed her." Nerea commented offhandedly as Bracken suddenly burst out laughing.

"You thought I was…?" Nerea laughed with her as the queen reached for her Leafbook. Opening it up, she showed Bracken the messages. "Aw… You were so worried!" The engineer giggled with a grin. "Thanks again Queen Nerea." The queen nodded in acknowledgement.

"Think nothing of it. Someone at the Hubble-Bubblery just made a mistake with some herbs is all. Nothing that can't be fixed." Nerea smiled kindly.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay Bracken. Though, Roland will have to hear about this Leander." Both Bracken and Leander paled at that before exchanging a look.

"Leander?" The man in question glanced at the engineer.

"Yes?" He tilted his head at her.

"Good luck." She smiled encouragingly at him. "You can make it through!"

"Yeah… Good luck Leander." Evan giggled before deeming it necessary to leave. The moment he left, Bracken turned back to Leander.

"You might want to run whilst you still can, Leander. I'll cover for you if you hold up your end of the deal later." The engineer smiled as Nerea glanced between them curiously.

"Thank you, Bracken. I'll return later." He nodded to her before turning to his queen. "Shall we take a look around Evermore?" He offered once more with a small smile. "I promise I'll explain what she means when we aren't at risk of Roland." Bracken snickered.

"You've spent too much time with me, you have." She smiled as Nerea rose to join him by the door.

"Shall we?" Nerea asked with a smile as she opened the door.

"Let's." Leander swiftly followed after her, throwing a grateful look Bracken's way. Escaping down the hallway, a thought occurred to him.

Bracken was right, he realised.

He _had_ spent too much time with her.


	8. Roland Lectures For All!

Bracken breathed a sigh of relief as she finally wandered away from the castle.

She'd never been so sick of one room in her life! And better yet, she hadn't called in on Leander's end of their deal!

Bonus!

"Hey, Bracken! Haven't seen you in a while." Turning her gaze she finally realised that Trey had been trying to get her attention. She'd only just got passed the outfitters so she hadn't expected anyone to notice her so soon.

"Hey, Trey. How's it going?" She asked casually as she scoped the place out for anyone that might take her back to Evan.

"It's been good, good. But hey, how've you been? I've been worried stiff about you!" He grinned as she narrowed her eyes at Phorkys passing by where Nu Bi was working on a sword.

"I'm fine, Trey, but look, I gotta go. I'm not meant to be out here yet…" She hurriedly told him as she began to back away towards to door of the outfitters. He laughed a little at that.

"Alright. Well c'ya later!" Like lightning she raced through the door as if the guard was hunting her down.

It wasn't as if she _wasn't_ allowed out of the castle for the moment… She had special permission after all…

But Roland _was_ meant to go with her.

It wasn't that she didn't like Roland, it was more the fact that she was wasting daylight waiting for him to finish his overly long winded lectures that he was still giving to Leander. Besides, Evan had given her the all clear…

Indirectly, but the all clear none the less.

"Bracken?" The engineer was brought back to her sense as Fai Do called out to her. Turning around to face something other than the door, she smiled in greeting.

"Hi." Bracken wandered over to the spare barrel she always liked to sit on during breaks before taking up her perch once more. "I can't stay unfortunately but how's this place been without me?" She asked casually as the canine smiled at her and set the armour he'd been working on down.

"It's been a little quiet without you just hoping in every so often but we've been managing." He paused as he took a seat on the crate adjacent to her. "How's the injuries?" He tilted his head, seeming concerned.

"I'm getting there. If Leander would stop trying to poison me with his new medicines I might just make a full recovery." She joked light-heartedly.

"That's great news! So, what brings you here today? King Evan already told us that you wouldn't be able to work for a while, so…" He trailed curiously as she smiled again.

"Well, Evan let me out the castle so that I can oversee some repairs to my leg. Think you can handle fixing a literal limb?" Bracken smirked at the nervous look he sent her.

"I-it's broken?" Fai Do rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah. The accident gave it quite a few dents here and there and it hasn't been doing much for my balance. Relax…" She smiled reassuringly. "I'll walk you through it." Pausing she corrected herself. "Or, I guess… I'll _talk_ you through it." He just gulped a little at that.

"So, what will I need to do?" He tried to get his head in gear with the amount of trust she was putting in him.

"Well, you already have all of the materials so…" Bracken paused as he glanced away awkwardly. "Hey, why don't we get Nu Bi to help? Two heads are better than one, right?" He nodded hastily with a grateful smile on his face. Pulling out her Leafbook, she quickly sent a message to Nu Bi whilst listing off the items Fai Do would need for the repairs.

Once the two boys had gathered everything they needed, Bracken rolled up her trouser leg, revealing the prosthetic beneath. She noted with amusement how they seemed to awkwardly turn away out of respect. It only took about a minute before she had removed the limb and the boys turned back around. Holding it delicately in both hands, she handed it over to the two.

"Now you be careful. That means more to me than you can imagine." She stated in a bout of seriousness the boys had never seen her use before.

This was gonna be a _real_ challenge for them.

* * *

Bracken laughed internally at Fai Do and Nu Bi's nervousness as she critically tested the movements of her repaired leg. It felt comfortable once again and the metal didn't feel too sharp or out of place anymore…

The balancing issues had been fixed as well.

All in all… it wasn't a bad job. She should probably tell them before they explode with anxiety. Glancing away from her metal limb, she turned her attention back to the boys with a smile.

"Nice job, you two." She praised them, their faces lighting up with the encouragement.

"I-it's not uncomfortable?" Nu Bi asked just to make sure. Bracken chuckled at him, knowing Nu Bi was in no way an outfitter but had tried his best regardless.

"It' brilliant, Nu Bi." She smiled wider as she rocked back and forth on her heels. "Thank you both _so_ much!" Her gratefulness was stronger than what the boys seemed to have ever expected and they glowed with pride.

"It's our pleasure, Bracken!" Fai Do seemed not to notice that he'd puffed his chest out a little.

"Yeah! We're happy to help!" Nu Bi beamed with cheer. Bracken hopped from one foot to the other before deciding she'd spent a little too much time indoors lately.

"Well, I'm sorry to cut this short but I want to go out for a while before Roland and Batu hunt me down." They laughed a little at her as she slipped her boots back on and made for the door.

"C'ya!"

"Bye!" They called after her as she began to wander around the kingdom. The sun was just beginning to set as her pent up restlessness over the past few days began to get the best of her. Deciding enough was enough she hurriedly made her way to the city gates.

Luckily the night guards weren't on duty yet…

Bracken took a deep breath before finally letting her instincts take flight. The engineer's speed began to skyrocket as she found herself racing through the gates and through the Heartland fields.

She laughed as her heart soared and she sprang through the grass blades with ease, not paying any attention to where she was going. Somewhere in her mind she registered the small burning in her side but who cares?

Freedom!

This was the best!

She hadn't even noticed she'd been cheering until the sound managed to penetrate the wind whistling in her ears. Her laughter didn't die though. Instead it grew stronger as she pushed her legs to run faster.

She just kept running and running, adoring the adrenaline rush that poured throughout her being from being bedridden for what felt like a lifetime!

The roaring of dragons in the distance, the screech of manticores as the whamsters watched her run fuelled the fire in her heart as she bounded through the countryside. Who cared how silly she looked? Roland was gonna lock her up again after this anyway…

In her moments of carefree glee she didn't notice the sound of her name being called from a distance. A shadow suddenly engulfed her form before her confused gaze met the creature that cast it.

A forest guardian.

In her hyped mindscape she narrowly evaded the arm that slammed down towards her. Should probably have been paying attention…

Breathing heavily she summoned her gun with her weapons ring before firing several shots at the flying monstrosity, only for it to swing its arm and send back peddling a few steps to escape the blow. Consequently, her momentum sent her toppling over into an awkward heap on the ground.

Oh please no…

Was she really gonna die to this?!

The thing began to spin like a saw blade as it drew closer, the adrenaline could only do so much now…

Shuffling backwards, she found herself against a short cliff face. The creature was upon her in an instant, ready to slice her in half in a moment's notice.

"I'm should have listened to Roland!" She realised with a start as her doom closed in. Closing her eyes, she summoned her best hammer to try and block the oncoming pain…

That never came…?

A blast erupted above her head, sending the thing flying away from her, most definitely defeated in a pile of smoking rubble.

"Are you alright?" Bracken's breathlessness echoed in her ears as the adrenaline wore off and the pain in her side erupted like a volcano. She cringed as her hand gripped her side. A hand landing on her shoulder and a figure kneeling in front of her brought her attention to the one that spoke a few moments ago. Bracken blinked blankly at the dogfolk in front of her.

With the sun set directly behind her, it gave the woman an almost god-like halo of light around her short lavender hair and tall pointed ears. The white fur of her saviour's face shone almost red in the dying light, the shade refusing to give dissimilar treatment to the lilac patch that covered her right eye. Speaking of eyes, the deep hazel gaze of the dogfolk seemed rather familiar as it awaited an answer from her.

"M-Min Ti?" Bracken tilted her head questioningly as she racked her brain for the identity of the mystery person. The woman in question, nodded in affirmation as she seemed to scan her for injuries.

"That's me." She stated coolly as Bracken's mind caught up with the events that had been happening.

"Uh… Thanks for saving me back there." Min Ti just nodded in acknowledgement as she stepped back to offer the engineer a hand up. Bracken gratefully took the offer as she carefully pulled herself back onto her feet. "Thanks." She paused. "Again." Min Ti just shook her head in dismissal.

"You're not supposed to be out here." The dogfolk stated as she indicated for her to follow her back to the kingdom. "King Evan will be wondering where you are." She commented as Bracken ever so slowly hobbled after her.

"Do you know if Roland knows I'm gone?" The engineer asked worriedly.

"No. I've been hunting all day." It was then that Bracken noticed the pack Min Ti carried on her back beneath her yellow cape.

"Yeah? You bring much back?" She asked, more as a formality then of curious nature. The pack seemed stuffed after all.

"I brought back what I could." They fell into silence as they walked closer to their destination.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Bracken mentioned in passing but just received a noise of affirmation as a response. The engineer sighed in resignation.

This was gonna be a long walk…

And Roland was gonna be waiting for her…

Oh joy…


	9. No More Fun

Bracken stretched as she closed her bedroom door behind her. She'd managed to slip back into the castle without anyone noticing somehow, so aside from that accomplishment, today had been fun.

Well…

The temporary freedom had been fun…

Sighing, the engineer knew her peace wouldn't last so decided to make the most of it before Roland inevitable found her. Maybe if she was asleep before he got here she'd be okay?

Hmmm…

Or breakfast could never end instead…

Yeah, odds were, she wasn't getting out of this.

Not daring to shower in case Roland really did find her sooner than expected, she quickly changed into her baggy shirt and bottoms before reclining on her bed. She yawned as the fire in her side refused to die down after her little run around earlier. She'd felt worse when she had to fight a dragon and it landed a _very_ lucky hit on her, but this still wasn't pleasant. Just like the temperature.

Seriously though, why _was_ Evermore such a cold place compared to Broadleaf?! Bracken shuffled around on her bed until she was back under the many blankets Leander had managed to find somewhere. She would have to thank him later.

Especially for the pillows.

Honestly, there must have been enough pillows to supply all of Broadleaf cushioning her every movement! She felt like he'd built her a castle of pillows to hide in like when she was younger than Evan! The engineer giggled as she got comfortable.

Leander was such a softie sometimes…

Unable to stop the next yawn, Bracken reached for her Leafbook to check if anyone had noticed she was missing. The moment she opened it, she frowned a little.

There was a picture of Bracken and Min Ti near the Inn she had to pass to get close to the castle and the caption read, _'I found Bracken!'_ The description section then read, _'Looks like Min Ti found her first. I wonder where she went?'_

Huh.

The post directly before that one had been a picture of Leander having the lecture of his life from Roland. Bracken giggled as she read the caption, _'Leander Learns a Valuable Lesson About Poisoning People'_ and the description that Tani posted made her smile widely.

 _'_ _Leander's getting another Roland lecture! This time, Roland is going on about how a little slip up led to Bracken passing out and a visit from Queen Nerea! I still don't get what happened but it's funny all the same. Also, Bracken? If you're reading this, I know you snuck out! Better hope I'm the only one!'_

Underneath, the comments were filled with sarcastic comments and silly jokes at Roland and his obsession with lecture's and Bracken's inevitable escape. The engineer laughed a little at Zip's comment in particular. _'Bracken, you trouble maker! I swear, one of these days young lady - *garble garble garble*'_ Typical Zip. Since she was much younger than him, he seemed to like poking fun at her for it.

Choosing to comment on the post too she responded, _'What do you mean trouble maker? I'll have you know, I had permission from the king to leave the castle! I am TOTALLY justified. :P'_ The response was immediate.

 _'_ _Bracken, where are you?'_ That wasn't Zip…

 _'_ _Relax. I'm in the castle, like I'm supposed to be. I only left for a little while to get my leg fixed.'_ This wasn't good. Oh no…

 _'_ _Please don't take my pillows… ;-;'_ Bracken joked, hoping Leander would see it.

 _'_ _Did Leander take his coat back? Or did he leave that too?'_ The engineer smirked at Queen Nerea jumping into the conversation.

 _'_ _He came back for it just before Roland caught him. He left the pillow fort though.'_ Bracken snorted at the response she got from that.

 _'_ _Traitors.'_ The engineer replied with a simple smiling face. Her previous observation was correct it seems. Leander really _had_ spent too much time with her.

 _'_ _I hate to interrupt, but Roland's on his way!'_ And with Tani's warning, Bracken bit her lip.

 _'_ _Also, Khunbish told him how you went for a run outside the kingdom walls.'_ The young redhead added onto her last statement.

 _'_ _WHAT'_ Bracken had typed on instinct as Zip's next comment showed up.

 _'_ _BUSTED!'_ She could already tell he was laughing at her, with his stupid smug face and his maniacal laughter, falling off his big fancy chair and scaring everyone half to death gosh darn it…

 _'_ _TRAITORS'_ As that last message sent, a knock was heard at the door. A silent moment passed as Bracken swiftly set her Leafbook back on the bedside and laid back down again, with her back to the door, as if she were asleep.

The creaking of the door opening had her tense slightly as she closed her eyes and breathed deep, calming breaths.

"Bracken." Roland's voice almost echoed throughout the room. She didn't react. "I know you're awake. Don't even try."

"It was worth a try…" She grumbled as she rolled back onto her back so she could actually see him. He sighed and shook his head.

"How old are you again?" He asked rhetorically but she chose to answer anyway.

"How old is Evan again?" He shook his head once more as Evan poked his head around the door.

"Hi, Bracken." Speak of the devil. "Da Xing gave me some more of your medicine. Would you like some now?" He offered as he stepped further into the room with the medicine bottle in his hands. Nodding vigorously, she eagerly shifted into a sitting position, cautious of her injury. He smiled brightly at her as he handed her the medicine. Taking the glass of chocolate milk, Leander had panic-brought her earlier, she took one tablet before setting her glass back down and returning the king's smile.

"You mad at me to?" She asked curiously with a head tilt. He laughed a little.

"You weren't gone as long as Roland makes it out to be but the main thing is that you're safe here, now." Evan spoke as if the over-worldly man wasn't there and Bracken couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Save me?" She tried with a teasing pout of her lips. Evan giggled this time as he shook his head.

"You're beyond help now!" He began to back off towards the door. "Good luck!" He called as he disappeared behind the door.

"Bracken. We need to talk." Here we go… His famous lecture is about to start…

"Do we?" She asked incredulously, knowing what was coming.

"Yes, we do. Do you realise what could have happened to you when you were out there? There's no way you can wield your usual weapons in your state." Bracken sighed. How long was this gonna go on for?

"I have a gun too you know…" She grumbled but Roland just shook his head.

"That's _one_ weapon. You'll need more than a gun to take monsters out. You were unequipped, unprepared and just being, reckless!" He stated with more strength than necessary. She could already feel herself dozing off to his blithering as he went on and on…

"Bracken." The engineer snapped out of her doze at that lower tone. Oh geez now he was mad. He had a look on his face that screamed how she'd disrespected him and she turned her gaze away, awkwardly. Yes, she respected him greatly. He was like a father to them all, or at least he tried to be…

But everyone could tell that Bracken didn't exactly work like that. It was in her nature to rebel when she either saw inequality or unfair behaviour in general.

However, if you asked Zip, he would probably tell you that you couldn't tie Bracken down to too many rules, or she'd break them in a heartbeat, regardless of how important or reasonable they are. Apparently.

She'd never seen it before, but now, as Roland continued to berate her, she could see the merit in that observation.

How had she not noticed this before?

How was Roland _still_ ranting?

Her attention snapped back to him as he took a deep, meaningful breath.

"Whilst you were running off where you pleased, Evan and I had a chat." The grave tone in his voice didn't go unnoticed. This didn't sound good.

"We both agreed that you couldn't be putting yourself at risk like this anymore so we unanimously decided that we would appoint a guard to prevent you from getting hurt more than you already are." Her eyes widened.

"What?!" Bracken stared at him in shock. Why would he do this?! How had Evan agreed to this?!

"Relax. You'll be fine. Just don't do anything silly and this'll all blow over once your injuries have healed." Roland spoke as if he was trying to make her feel better about this.

"This is…! I… You're _serious_?!" She struggled for words, there were no words. This is insane!

"Yes. Now I'll see you at dinner in a few minutes. Let you stew over that for a bit." And with that, he made to leave.

"Remember…" He paused as he was about to cross the threshold into the hall. "This is for your own good." The door closed, signalling he'd left.

Frustration built like a volcano as she glared at the door. She hadn't felt like this in _years_.

This was now officially, the worst day, _ever._

* * *

If Roland was going to keep her locked up in this castle, there was gonna be consequences. Leander had guessed from the start that this would be the case, and so had advised against the idea of a guard to watch Bracken all day. Whilst he could see the merit in the idea, putting this plan into practice would undoubtedly fail.

Bracken hadn't come down for dinner that night. Instead she'd stayed in her room, probably still angry about everything. It was to be expected. Bracken was a free spirit. Her impeccable engineering skills were always put to use in ways that could potentially break the rules of society or the rules of physics. That much was obvious.

Just to ensure he wasn't taking knowledge from nowhere, he contacted Zip before he retired for the night.

Turns out, he was right.

Bracken never liked taking a back seat. Not that she was an attention hog, but she apparently got irritable if she was confined for too long. Too many rules would constitute towards that, no doubt.

She'd gone from practically no rules, to an abundance of them. That _must_ have been hard on her. In any case, he should bring this up to Evan as soon as possible.

This was going to be interesting to say the least…


	10. Min Ti the Stick in the Mud

Bracken stared at the ceiling, in frustration.

She was bored, she was hungry, she was out of chocolate milk, and her guard was a stick in the mud.

Glancing over, she watched Min Ti casually read her book as if the hunter wasn't bored out of her mind either. Honestly, of all the people she could be stuck with, they chose Min Ti? The _one_ guard that probably wouldn't talk to her much at all? The _one_ guard who wasn't even supposed to be a guard in the first place?

Ugh…

Who cares…?

Roland surely didn't.

It _was_ his idea after all…

He'd confiscated her rocket boots, her prototype inventions, her tools, her weapons… All because he'd found out she'd nearly got hit by a monster. She sighed in agitation.

Even the pillow fort Leander panic-built wasn't as cool as before…

Gah! She _needed_ to get out of here! But how?

Something Zip had told her before suddenly popped to mind. She didn't want to do this, but if it worked, she'd probably be better off. Taking a quiet, deep breath she prepared herself.

"MIN TI!" The hunter jumped out of her fur at the sudden shout, nearly dropping her book in the process. Turning sharply to the engineer, the glare in her eyes could freeze fire.

"What?" She snapped just as fiercely.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…" Bracken glanced away awkwardly. Min Ti just tutted before turning away again.

"What do you want?" She asked as she closed her book and set it on the side for now.

"Can we go to Broadleaf?" The casual question and curious head tilt had Min Ti giving her a look.

"You want to go to Broadleaf? You expect me to agree to that? It's too far." Bracken frowned a little.

"Aw, please? I bet you've never even been there before!" She tried to argue her case.

"No. I'm not taking you to Broadleaf." Came the firm response.

"Why not?" This was probably the longest conversation anyone had ever got from this dogfolk.

"It's too far." The simple response made Bracken pout a little.

"Aw… If it's too far, can we go to Goldpaw instead? I've never been there myself, and with you there I can't really get into much trouble…" She trailed as her eyes lit up with hope.

"Goldpaw? Why would you want to go there?" Min Ti threw her a confused glance.

"I don't know… See the sights? Try the food? Check the place out?" She listed as she counted on her fingers. "Maybe fly in the zeppelin to get there so it's safer?"

"Wouldn't you rather stay here? _Out_ of trouble?" The hunter crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll get in trouble if I stay here much longer anyway… And it won't be too bad! Leander owes me a favour so he could cover for us!" Her optimism seemed to be the falling point.

"… And you _won't_ get into trouble?" Bracken shook her head immediately. Sighing in defeat, Min Ti growled a little.

"Fine. But as soon as you start misbehaving, I'm bringing you back here." The engineer cheered, even as the hunter pointed a warning finger at her.

"Woo! Somewhere other than Evermore!" Bracken leapt to her feet, before grabbing her typical overalls from the drawer and practically teleporting to the bathroom to change. "Adventure!" She called as she returned in her usual outfit with her favourite goggles. Snatching her Leafbook as she passed, she slipped it into one of the utility pouches on her belt before Min Ti could grab her wrist.

"Calm down and slow down. If you get hurt, we won't be going anywhere." Bracken rolled her eyes before she lead the way out of the room and down the hallway.

Maybe Min Ti _wasn't_ such a stick in the mud after all!

* * *

Just _what_ had she gotten herself into?

Min Ti just stared as Bracken fiddled with the controls on the zeppelin with a childish gleam in her eyes. When Evan had come to her asking for help, she could hardly say no after the help he has given her over the time she'd been his subject. Though it seems she'd bitten off more than she could chew with this request.

Min Ti? A guard? Ridiculous!

Honestly, why she'd accepted Bracken's request to leave when the hunter had been specifically told not to let her leave the castle was beyond her. She suspected some kind of foul play in that conversation but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Hey, look!" Bracken suddenly called to her as she frantically pointed at something. Min Ti casually wandered over to her before glancing out the window to where she was pointing.

"I thought we were going to Goldpaw?" The hunter questioned with a suspicious glance at Bracken. Below them, they'd just flown over Ding Dong Dell.

"Well, there's no harm in flying around a little bit first, right?" The engineer smiled innocently as she turned her attention back to the controls. "We'll be there in just a tick." Min Ti sighed and shook her head. Why didn't that fill her with confidence?

"Let's just get this over with before you get into any more trouble." She grumbled as she spied her hometown in the distance. Wow, zeppelins moved _fast._

"Spoil sport…" Bracken mumbled, seemingly knowing darn well the hunter could hear her. Tutting at the immaturity of it all, the dogfolk took the co-pilot's seat.

Already, she could tell this was gonna be a _very_ long day.


	11. Mrs Chow Chow The Tourist Magnet

The moment Bracken had stepped off the zeppelin, she'd made a beeline for the city. Unable to hold her anticipation, she raced through the gates with Min Ti casually following her as if this was no big deal. Of course Min Ti would act like that, she'd grown up here and…

Woah…

Bracken stared as she really took in the site of Goldpaw.

The grand gate she'd just crossed the threshold of had been hiding a barrage of lights and colours she'd never truly experienced before. Neon pink, serpentine dragons on either side of the archway ahead of her, as if lighting the way to new sights with a welcoming glow. A bridge on either side of her each crossed the shimmering little streams of water and led all who passed over them to what was most likely the homes of either two very lucky households, or the most frequent guards to the entrance of such a lively city.

In the distance, spotlights dazzled the skyline and paper lanterns littered the overhangs on rooftops and gateways, brightening the streets with such a vivid gleam that she could just feel a certain energy build up inside her.

Armoured dogfolk guards patrolled around the area that seemed littered with citizens of similar race. Most were chatting amongst themselves and many were just milling about with one another, trading gossip or running errands. A few of them even turned to watch her awestruck face with knowing smiles probably thinking how silly tourists looked when they walked into Goldpaw and spun around to just take everything in.

"I take it, you like it?" Min Ti asked with a raised eyebrow that just screamed, 'You are so predictable'. Bracken laughed a little as their gazes met.

"Of course!" The engineer responded before racing along the square cobbles, passed the gate and into the street beyond. The grin on her face was unstoppable.

The street stretched for a while, with steps near its end. A wooden sales cart was parked in the corner a little further ahead than the gate she passed through, the dogfolk in charge, calling out for potential customers. Hot spicy food had assaulted her senses the moment she stepped near the source of such an enticing aroma, reminding her once again that she had gone without dinner last night and there wasn't enough food at breakfast to make up for that.

"Welcome, to the Sweet Saffron Tea House! Are you going to stay for a meal?" The dogfolk behind the bar smiled at her hungry expression as Min Ti came up behind her.

"What have you got?" Bracken asked curiously with a head tilt. She was starving, yes but she wouldn't eat just any junk they threw at her. Just then, Min Ti stepped in.

"If you're wanting food, you should know that most Goldpaw dishes are extremely spicy. Nothing like what you'll probably find in Broadleaf." She explained as the bartender laughed a little.

"Welcome back, Min Ti! I never thought I'd see the day you brought a friend here!" She smiled even wider at Bracken. "If you didn't notice, Min Ti's not exactly great with her social skills." Her tone lowered into a slightly hushed tone that was meant to be heard by the hunter in question. Bracken couldn't help the snicker that came from that as she took a seat at the bar.

"Oh, I think I noticed." She sent her guard for the day an amused smile. Min Ti had of course looked away awkwardly with her ears drooping slightly in agitation. "Relax… I'm only teasing." The engineer then turned back to the chef.

"My social skills aren't as bad as Mrs Chow Chow makes them out to be." The hunter grumbled.

"Mrs Chow Chow?" Bracken gave Min Ti a curious look.

"That's me!" The chef put a hand to her chest in pride. "Best food vender in all of Goldpaw!" She boasted as Bracken's anticipation skyrocketed.

"Impressive!" The engineer smiled broadly in excitement. "Come on, Min Ti! This'll be great!" The hunter sighed before taking the seat next to her.

"Dumplings please." Min Ti ordered casually, probably having been here a thousand times before. Mrs Chow Chow nodded, seemingly used to this before turning to Bracken.

"Uh, I'll have the same I guess." If it was okay for Min Ti, it must be good. Right?

"Is that a big bowl or a small?" The chef asked just to be sure. Bracken thought for a minute to gauge just how hungry she was.

"A big bowl please!" Her enthusiasm spiked at that.

"Coming right up!" The bartender smiled before heading to the back of the tea house to get started on their meals. With the two now alone, Bracken took the time to try and talk to her companion.

"So, what's to do here in Goldpaw?" She asked curiously, trying to ignore the enticing scent of her future meal.

"Not a lot really. There's the Lucky Stars Casino, Lady Luck, fortune telling, food and a library. If you want a souvenir, there's the Lucky Lotus Emporium but aside from that, there's nothing else to do." Min Ti explained with a shrug.

"Oh yeah, I forgot this place was pretty much based around gambling… So how does that work? Someone commits a crime and they role a dice to decide punishment?" Honestly, it had confused her when she was first told about it but now that she said it out loud, it really did seem ridiculous.

"Kind of. The dice of Lady Luck is thrown for each piece of evidence that is presented in a trial. It is then thrown again at the end of a trial to determine the outcome. However, recently Mater Pugnacious has been more lenient with it and has said that if the evidence is clearly real and is stacked up against someone, the dice is irrelevant and merely a formality." The hunter glanced around at the people passing. Apparently some of them were looking at them funny.

"Oh okay." Bracken nodded in understanding. That seemed much more fair than just deciding guilt completely on a single roll of fortune. Turning her gaze to follow her guard's, she noticed that her dark eyes had been burning holes through some form of black bird thing that someone sitting on the ground against the wall on the opposite side of the street had with them. It was squawking angrily in the guy's ear as he seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"What's that?" She asked curiously as the plump creature hopped around its apparent master.

" _That_ is a Duebill." Min Ti spat with clear malice towards the thing. "It's what you get when you can't pay your debts around here." The hunter's ears were flat back with distaste for the thing and her teeth had subconsciously been flashed in almost a snarling fashion.

"YOU OWE ME! YOU OWE ME!" Bracken jumped as someone with a much skinnier bird walked by. Her companion's hands clenched into fists at the sight.

"I take it you don't have a good experience with them?" The hunter gave her a look that spoke volumes of her hatred for them.

" _No one_ has a good experience with them except whoever their master owes a debt to." She growled in response with a clenched jaw. "This place is built on gambling for big money after all. No one could _possibly_ turn _that_ down…" She grumbled sarcastically before shaking her head in irritation. "If you plan to head to the casino, think again. You walk in without one and leave with a fat one. They aren't the kind of thing you want to live with." Bracken nodded in understanding.

"Alright. If we go there, I'll be sure to trust my wallet to you." She offered a smile to try and brighten the mood but it didn't seem to work all that well.

" _If_ we go there?" Brown eyes narrowed into a threatening glare that met a softer blue.

"Hey! I never said I would play!" Bracken raised her hands in defence. "I was thinking, maybe you could teach me how to play and we could have a few, games without stakes. Safe, _fun_ games." She clarified as the tension seemed to leave her guard's shoulders a little at that.

"No stakes?" Min Ti asked, seemingly having to reaffirm the promise.

"No stakes unless you specifically give me permission to do so, which won't be at all." The engineer placed a hand over her heart with conviction. No way was she going to get a Duebill. No way in Nazcaä. "We can leave whenever you want, just let me scope it out, yeah?" Min Ti sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation.

"Fine. Just be warned, the people in there aren't always friendly." The caution was met with a firm nod.

"I understand." At the sceptical look the hunter sent her, Bracken clarified with the best defence around…

"The truth is Min Ti, all I've wanted to do all day is leave the castle for a little while. I didn't really mind where we went. I swear to you, that was my only goal." She smiled at the dogfolk woman. "Whatever happens now, I'll listen to you. I've accomplished what I wanted to for now." A long pause followed as Min Ti seemed to scan her expression for any signs of dishonesty. Apparently, she found nothing but the truth as she backed off, seemingly a little relieved. Her eyes suddenly narrowed again as if she'd just thought of something.

"How _did_ you convince me today? You must have done something, I'm sure of it." The suspicion returned and Bracken flinched.

"Oh, um. Yeah, I mean no! I didn't do anything!" A small sweat was beginning to build along her brow as the engineer leaned further away from the hunter. No more words were exchanged for a long while as Bracken did her best to avoid her gaze.

Moments turned into a minute and a half before she finally broke under the sheer intensity of her dogfolk companion.

"I-I'm sorry! Min Ti, I'm sorry! I was just so sick of being locked in that room that I used a few tricks to get you to agree!" Her voice cracked with nerves as Min Ti continued to stare.

"What kind of tricks?" The hunter asked menacingly.

"I used an interrogation technique and a reasonable trick. I can teach you them if you'd like?" The engineer tried to bargain her way out of this but Min Ti just crossed her arms.

"I would expect you to tell me what you did anyway." The ominous tone did nothing to prevent the younger woman's anxiety.

"O-okay. Well, the interrogation technique is the whole 'good cop, bad cop' thing. If you scare the life out of someone, then ask nicely, they're more likely to agree with you. The other one, was when I asked to go to Broadleaf. If I'd have asked to go to Goldpaw from the get go, you wouldn't have agreed, so I asked for something _un_ reasonable to make you more inclined to agree with something more _reasonable_." Bracken paused to take a few calming breaths. "I'm sorry I used them on you… There really is no excuse is there, really…" She stated rather than asked.

A long pause as Bracken tried to gauge the reaction of her companion, to no avail. Darn, she was in for it this time…

"Impressive." Min Ti suddenly said with a satisfied nod. If Bracken had been trying to drink, she would have done a spit-take.

"Uh… W-what? I-I mean thank you, but… What? Aren't you mad?" Her stuttering didn't go unnoticed it seemed as the hunter shook her head dismissively.

"I think we can both agree that this is far more interesting than preventing you from leaving the castle." The dogfolk admitted much to the surprise of Bracken. Not that it wasn't obvious they were both bored out of their minds, but to hear her admit it?

She _must_ be going up in the world…

"Here you go! Eat up!" Mrs Chow Chow smiled widely at the two before placing two _huge_ bowls of diced dumplings in front of them. She turned around for a moment after a little chuckle at Bracken's awestruck expression before grabbing something from the table. When she turned back around, she placed two cups of Peachy Players Punch beside each of their respective meals.

"And a little something on the house." The chef winked cheerfully at them as Min Ti raised an eyebrow.

"What's the occasion?" The question was met with another chuckle.

"Why, you finally making friends of course! You know, I don't think I've ever seen you talk to anyone for more than half a sentence, until today!" Mrs Chow Chow sent the still very amazed and very hungry Bracken a look. "Now don't worry if you can't eat it all. Most of my customers don't manage half of it."

"Oh, well thank you Mrs Chow Chow!" The engineer smiled excitedly at the chef before grabbing her chopsticks eagerly. Her anticipation turned to confusion as she tried and failed to pick up her desired dumplings with the utensils. In truth, she hadn't used chopsticks since she was a little kid. Shaking away her excuses, she determinedly tried again…

And again…

And again…

The fifth time she dropped her food, Mrs Chow Chow burst into laughter. Turning her attention to the two dogfolks, she could see that even Min Ti seemed amused as she tried to hide it with a practiced bite of a dumpling.

She smiled even in the face of her incompetence at having unintentionally put on a show for them before turning back to her meal. Deciding to do things _her_ way, she nudged a dumpling against the rim of the bowl before pushing the chopsticks through the dough, successfully skewering it. Giving them a triumphant grin, she took a bite of her food.

Bracken's eyes widened as she turned her full attention onto the bite she'd just taken. It was… _chewy_ , and… was that shrimp she could taste? Shrimp and… pork? Wow…

"You like that one?" Mrs Chow Chow had a knowing look in her eyes as if she knew more than she was letting on. Min Ti seemed to be watching her too, as if waiting for something to happen. Bracken hummed in agreement as she nodded her head cheerfully.

Reaching for another dumpling, she stabbed it and took a bite, expecting the same taste…

How could a dumpling taste so amazingly sweet?!

The chef chuckled at her expression.

"I will never grow tired of watching the tourists try my cooking." She smiled as Bracken focused on the meal. The next one was…

Hot! Very hot!

As soon as she could, she'd swallowed it down before reaching for the punch with an urgency she'd never felt before. Darn her mouth was on fire now!

After downing the majority of the drink, she finally registered the boisterous laughter from the chef and how hard Min Ti was biting the inside of her cheek. A few deep breaths later and the engineer finally spoke.

"How… many of those are in there?" She asked warily, despite her smile.

"Oh, only a few. It's like a game of roulette with dumplings. You never know what you're gonna get." Mrs Chow Chow explained as she came down from her laughter.

"I _did_ warn you." Min Ti commented offhandedly as she tried to act casual whilst eating her own meal.

"True…" Bracken trailed off in thought. "What else is in here?" She asked with an abundance of curiosity, her gaze glued to the bowl in front of her. A chuckle from the chef brought her attention back to her.

"You'll have to find out for yourself. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." She smiled before noticing something further down the bar. "Well, as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I have customers to attend to. Enjoy!" Waving goodbye, she headed towards her next customer.

"We will!" Bracken responded with a big grin before stuffing her face with another mystery dumpling.

Whatever else she did today, she was glad she did this. Roland can rant all he wants but there would _definitely_ be no regrets on her part!

Today, was gonna be a good day…


	12. The Life of Goldpaw

"Of all the things you could ever hope to buy here, you want one of _those?_ " Bracken glanced over at Min Ti with an excited grin.

"Oh, come on, Min Ti! You can't say you don't wanna know how it works!" The engineer's enthusiasm was met with a sigh from the dogfolk behind the counter.

"I'm sorry, but Master Pugnacious demanded any and all dice from that time be removed from circulation and destroyed. You won't find one anywhere in Goldpaw." The cashier explained in as kind a manner as possible. Bracken's expression dropped a little.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's not like I'm gonna use it!" She heard Min Ti sigh in exasperation behind her.

"I'm sorry, Auntie Tzu. I didn't expect her to be a bother." Bracken turned sharply to the hunter, not having expected that kind of response. Auntie Tzu just chuckled and shook her head.

"Oh, not to worry. I've had many customers come by for a trick dice, so it's nothing unusual." The engineer glanced between the two.

" _Auntie_ Tzu?" She finally settled on a question. Were these two related? They didn't look similar…

"No. We're not related." Min Ti clarified almost immediately as she crossed her arms and glanced away at some passers-by. It was a little odd how many people were just casually walking around one of the darker alleyways of Goldpaw like this…

But then, there's always worse places. The Lucky Lotus Emporium wouldn't be here if it was a shady alleyway, would it? Shaking the thought from her head, she glanced back over at the cashier.

"Auntie Tzu is just the name I go by." The engineer nodded in understanding. It made sense, these two didn't seem to have anything in common like she thought family members often did. But what would she know about that?

"So, what else you got?" She asked curiously as she spied all the different merchandise on sale. She wasn't a collector by a long shot but a few mementos from days gone by never hurt anyone. Auntie Tzu seemed to think for a minute.

"How about this?" The woman offered after a good long look at Bracken. The cashier then took an interesting looking sculpture from below the counter. "We've just got these in from a new supplier so they aren't on display yet, but I do so think they are funny little things." Said sculpture appeared to be of a cute interpretation of Longfang, sat on a base styled like a roulette wheel. In its jaws, was a tiny replica of what she could guess was the Grand High Roller, Pugnacious' staff over which they had formed a bond. Blue eyes watched curiously as the shopkeeper turned a small handle, shaped like one of LongFang's many tails at the back of the sculpture.

Bracken stared, mesmorized by the trinket as the inner section of the roulette wheel base began to spin slowly, and the dice of the staff LongFang held span gently to the soft melody it played. The kingmaker's folded wings then gradually spread outwards and upwards in a grand display of craftsmanship. The melody itself sounded almost unpredictable, as if it were as random as Lady Luck herself, yet still calming and well-orchestrated.

"Well? What do you think?" Auntie Tzu pressed optimistically for an answer, snapping the engineer's attention back to her.

"How much is it, first?" Min Ti quickly interrupted Bracken's imminent praise with a slightly urgent step forward.

"Oh, for you and your friend Min Ti? Hmm… I'd say… eight-hundred gil?" Bracken smiled as she nodded a little frantically. This thing was _way_ too cool. Min Ti just seemed to shake her head as the engineer gladly paid for the trinket and took the now boxed up memento from the counter, with a big grin on her face. She snickered almost evilly before turning to the hunter.

"Bet Lofty'll want one of these when he sees it!" The engineer grinned before thanking the cashier and leading the way further down the alleyway. A few moments later, she realised Min Ti wasn't following her. "Min Ti?" She called curiously as she turned around to see the hunter receiving something from Auntie Tzu. Said woman, nodded before turning back to Bracken, heading towards her with a bag in her hand.

"Everything okay?" Bracken asked casually before turning confused as Min Ti handed her the bag. "What's this for?"

"The music box." The hunter responded as if it were common knowledge. The engineer glanced inside the bag, only to find nothing before realising what had just been said.

"Oh! Okay." Min Ti just rolled her eyes at the lapse in memory as she carefully slid the box into the carrier. "Thanks." Bracken smiled gratefully, to which her guard just nodded in acknowledgement before taking the lead again. "Where to next?" A thought occurred to her and she gasped a little in anticipation. "Can we go to the casino?"

"No." Came the immediate response.

"Aw, come on! Just a few safe games between us? No stakes, remember?" Bracken tried with a hopeful tone. At the hunter's hesitance, she spoke again. "You did say we could earlier…" She trailed with the most persuasive tone she could muster.

"… I did say that, didn't I?" Min Ti trailed as if to think about it before nodding in defeat. "Alright. Casino, it is." Optimism surged through her like a shot of electricity and the engineer cheered a little at the victory.

"So, which way is it?" Bracken asked as she walked beside the hunter. Crossing the wooden bridge, she couldn't help but marvel some more at the unique décor.

"This way." The hunter lead the way past the Dreaming Camomile Inn, towards a set of uneven stone stairs. Glancing around, one couldn't help but wonder what exactly was in all the pots that littered the street edges.

"Hey, what's that?" Bracken pointed at the building with the two guardian-like statues on either side of the pathway.

"That's the library. It's one of the best ways to find out about the history of the world since everything is engraved in stone tablets." At that explanation, she suddenly wanted to investigate. The urge weakened a little as she could remember Tani not being too comfortable talking about the librarian. In any case, Boddly did _not_ sound fun.

"So, Min Ti… You gamble much yourself?" Bracken asked curiously as they neared a large wooden pathway that almost acted as a bridge.

"Of course not." The engineer jumped at the sheer intensity of that claim.

"Well, what did you do all day when you lived here?" Quickly shifting the conversation away from that seemed the best choice to be making right now.

"I'd hunt." A long pause as Bracken waited for her to continue. "And train." The hunter seemed to add as an afterthought.

"Train for what?" She could already guess the answer but chose to ask instead.

"Hunting." This time it was Bracken's turn to roll her eyes.

"Really…" Shaking her head, the minister turned her attention back to Min Ti. "What exactly do you do for fun?" She tried.

"Hmm… Reading can be fun, I suppose." That answer made it sound as if she didn't know herself. Wait, did Min Ti, _ever_ relax?

"Sounds like you're the life of the party." The minister attempted to joke light-heartedly but the hunter didn't pay her any mind. Dark eyes were turned to the path ahead with an intensity that didn't feel reasonable, her hands were now alternating between open and closed fists, stirring a hint of worry in the Broadleafer. A light suddenly seemed to reach her from the path they'd been taking, redirecting her attention.

Bracken's eyes widened in excitement as she took in the sight of the building that had enough lights to put any festival or fireworks display to shame. Another guardian like sculpture sat over the entrance, the sign in its claws reading, 'Lucky Stars Casino' in neon lights. Giant dice styled lamps stood at either side of both the entrance and the guardian above the door, almost beckoning anyone with a gambler's spirit to draw near. The sheer amount of colour assaulted her gaze, shining almost as bright as fire, warding off any who can't handle such ferocity. A hand on her shoulder, snapped her out of her daze.

"Let's get this over with." Min Ti's ears had shifted back slightly, almost unnoticeably as she led the way through the doors of the casino.

The interior may not have been filled to the brim with strings of bright lights but the clamour of people as they went about their gambling hobbies more than made up for the loss. Min Ti silently led her to a table in the quietest corner of the first room before one of the dealers headed over to them.

"Here to play, or here to watch?" The tall dogfolk asked professionally.

"Both. May we have some dice?" The hunter requested before indicating to Bracken. "She's new to the games." That seemed to be all the information he needed as the dealer nodded and handed them three dice from his pocket.

"Enjoy the games." He nodded politely to each of them before disappearing back into the crowd. Bracken smiled in anticipation as she leaned forwards in her seat, her hands leaning on the table between them.

"So, how do we play?" She asked, taking note of how her companion's ears had slid back a little further.

"Red and Black is the easiest to understand. I roll two dice, you will have to guess what the third die will make the total add up to. If you think it'll be more than eleven, you say 'Red', if less then you say, 'Black'." Min Ti paused to let that sink in. "However, when three ones are rolled or three sixes, then the answer becomes the opposite. Do you understand?" Bracken nodded in thought. "Ready?" Another nod, this time in affirmation. The hunter rolled two dice…

A three and a five.

"Hm… Red?" The engineer guessed before Min Ti rolled the die.

A four.

"Twelve. You lose." The hunter said simply as Bracken frowned a little.

"How do people get so obsessed? It's literally three numbers." The minister's confused look was met with what could only be a subconscious snarl from her companion.

"I don't have a clue." Bracken frowned a little deeper before shrugging it off.

"Let's see if I can win this time…" The odds were against her, but maybe she could do it.

 _Maybe…_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Hey! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was updating on Ao3 and forgot to come back here and continue posting. I wouldn't recommend going there for the extra chapters though. I'm rewriting everything that comes after this, and a portion of this has been edited to work better as well. All in all, you guys are getting the second draft whilst the Ao3 audience only got the first. I'll update Ao3 with the new stuff once I'm happy with it but for now, its going here first.**

 **On the subject of the chapter itself, the music box is going to be relevant at some point, I promise. I left a lot of clues here as to what I'm going to do with Bracken's character and where Min Ti's is heading _very_ soon.**

 **I hope you're enjoying this so far and if you have any fun things for these two to get up to, just let me know. I've had some serious writers block recently so any and all ideas would be welcomed with open arms.**


	13. Luck Favours The House

Okay, maybe she _couldn't_ do it.

"Really…?" Bracken stared at the umpteenth set of numbers on the dice, another losing total. She'd not won a single game and the disappointment was sinking in quick.

"How about a different game?" Min Ti suggested as she reached for some paper and pens from a nearby table. The engineer leaned closer in anticipation.

"I'm listening." Surely she couldn't do worse at this game than she could the last, right?

"This one is called 'Beetle'." The hunter paused as she pushed a few pieces of paper and a pen towards her. "We each take turns rolling the dice. Whatever it lands on, is a body part of an insect. The first one to draw the whole bug wins. Some body parts can't be drawn until others have been though." Bracken nodded as she took a die from her.

"Sounds easy enough." Rolling the die, she let her competitive streak show. A six.

"That's the torso." Bracken nodded at the clarification before beginning to doodle a part of a beetle.

Min Ti rolled a three, a head.

Bracken rolled a two, a leg.

A four… a five… a one… a three…

Bracken narrowed her eyes after the many rolls they'd exchanged. Both of them only one more number away. Min Ti copied the gesture before rolling her die…

A two.

"What?!" Min Ti smirked as she added the final leg to her crudely drawn beetle. "No fair!" The hunter shook her head at her, probably amused or enjoying her victory.

"These aren't trick dice. You just don't seem to have luck on your side today." The, oh so Goldpaw, reason for everything… Darn…

"Can we play another game? Maybe one that doesn't feel rigged?" Bracken pouted as the hunter rolled her eyes. She was about to answer when all of a sudden her ears went flat again and her eyes froze over, glaring at a point over the engineer's shoulder. Before Bracken could turn to see what the problem was, a hand heavily landed on the table next to her, nearly toppling the furniture over.

"Hey there, Min Ti. You finally realise how great this place is?" Glancing up as the dogfolk stepped to the side of the girls, she took note of his tall, scraggly appearance. The man looked as if he hadn't eaten in years, his dark chestnut hair seemed knotted and gnarled, tall pointed ears seemed un-kept and worn away. A pale, sandy coloured patch of fur covered the once white fur of his right eye, his blue gaze seemed dull yet oddly spritely. His clothes seemed strangely rough considering the place they were in, but they otherwise resembled a deep blue version of your typical Goldpaw residence's attire.

"No. I'm here on duty." Min Ti had responded in a stern manner, as if she wanted nothing to do with the man.

"On duty? Then who is this?" He asked in an almost accusatory tone as he turned his attention towards the engineer. Deciding to be like her companion and act professional, she answered casually.

"Min Ti is my temporary guard. For the moment, where I go, she goes." Bracken explained before offering a hand out of politeness. "Bracken Meadows. Engineer." She introduced herself with a friendly smile.

"My name is Fay Va. Though, hopefully Min Ti has mentioned me before?" He tried a charming smile that just revealed his aging teeth that didn't seem at all as pleasant as he clearly hoped it to be.

"Sorry. I've never heard of you." Bracken apologised in as kind a tone she could muster, the sheer amount of daggers being glared her way wasn't helping much.

"Ah. That's okay. One day, Min Ti will talk the world of me." He paused in his almost arrogant tone, clearly lacking any real faith in his words. "That is… _after_ I win big of course." Even without looking at her, Bracken could tell the hunter was trying her hardest to stay cool.

"Even _if_ you win big, I'll still want nothing to do with you." She snarled, words dripping with disdain.

"Oh, please. When I win big, it'll be great! No more of this negativity! Mark my words!" Bracken mentally awarded points for attempted optimism. "Since you're here, how about I show you a few tricks of the trade? I bet if we both chipped in, we could get that bonus prize in no time!"

"Tricks of the trade?" Min Ti spoke in an incredulously low tone. "You mean the ones that have won you nothing but trouble?" Fay Va bristled a little, seemingly offended at her choice of words.

"Trouble? Goldpaw wasn't built in a day!" He announced with sudden surety as he inched closer to the hunter.

"Yeah? Well neither was your duebill." She commented as her eyes narrowed.

"YOU OWE ME!" As if on cue, a giant duebill squawked somewhere behind the man. The only sign that either of them had heard was the slight twitch of their ears.

"Look, these things just take time…" He drawled in what was supposed to be an attempt at persuasion.

"And money that you don't have." She stated with cold irritation.

"But I will! I've had three wins today!" The triumphant claim and the proud stance of his fist over his chest was met with an eye roll.

"And any money you won just goes back to the state, either on more gambling or to pay off your duebill." The elder of the two shrunk away from that criticism.

"But it is _progress!_ Don't you see? The improvements I made to my system are paying off! Once it's perfected, there'll be no loss greater than the states!" A determined gleam in his eyes, he boasted his beliefs. Where had the engineer heard that before…?

Either way, it sounded ridiculous.

"Trust me… Once the money starts rolling in, you'll wanna learn all my tricks and get involved in the best family tradition out there!" Bracken had to hand it to him. His entrepreneurial skills at least _existed_.

" _Family_ traditions? What would _you_ know about _family_ traditions?" She jumped as Min Ti snapped at him, subconsciously baring her teeth again. "Last I checked, you don't even _have_ a family."

"Don't be like that! If I have no family, how and why are you even here?" Fay Va attempted to defend himself with a threatening snarl of his own.

"It takes more than blood to be a family!" She stood to face him, ears back, tail bristled and teeth snarled.

"Not like you would know anything about that, would you _father?"_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Two updates in a few minutes to make up for things.**

 **Min Ti will be seeing some backstory in the next chapter as you could probably guess so there's that. The fun stuff will return at some point. Promise!**

 **Oh and btw, I only recently found the Citizen's Almanac in the game and realised that Min Ti's eyes are in fact blue. Should probably change that at some point too. Oops. Her entry in the almanac is heckin adorable though...**

 **I also have Tumblr now! Hooray! If you care about it, my name is defiant-firefly.**


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